Memorandum of understanding initiates the X-15 project. - .
Nation: USA. Spacecraft: X-15A. After 2 years' study of problems that might be encountered in manned space flight, a joint group - NACA, Air Force, and Navy - met in Washington to discuss the need for a hypersonic research vehicle and to decide on the type of aircraft that could attain these objectives. The NACA proposal was accepted in December 1954, and a formal memorandum of understanding was signed to initiate the X-15 project. Technical direction of the project was assigned to the NACA. On November 9, 1961, the X-15 reached its design speed of over 4,000 miles per hour and achieved partial space conditions on July 17, 1962, when it reached an altitude of 314,750 feet. By the latter date, the Mercury spacecraft had made two manned orbital flights.

X-15 project begun. - .
Nation: USA. Program: X-15. Class: Manned. Type: Manned spaceplane. Spacecraft: X-15A. NACA met with USAF and Navy BuAer representatives to propose the X-15 as an extension of the cooperative rocket research aircraft program. The NACA proposal was accepted as a joint effort and a memorandum of understanding was signed on December 23 naming NACA as technical director of the project, with advice from a joint Research Airplane Committee.

General Electric studies related to manned space flight. - .
Nation: USA. Spacecraft: Mercury. General Electric Company personnel presented a briefing at NACA headquarters on studies related to manned space flight. The company held contracts let by the Wright Air Development Center for study and mock-up of a manned spacecraft. NACA made no official comment.

1959 July 9 - .

Ion rocket tested. - .
Nation: USA. Summary: NASA Lewis Research Center operated a research model of an ion rocket in a newly completed electric-rocket test facility designed for basic investigations into the problems associated with a reliable ion rocket with a minimum life of 1 year..

STARFISH PRIME Nuclear test - .
Nation: USA. Agency: USAF. Apogee: 400 km (240 mi). Successful high-altitude test of a Thor IRBM with a live nuclear warhead. The payload included test instrumentation and a W-49 warhead/Mk-4 re-entry vehicle. The 1.45 megaton bomb exploded at an altitude of 400 km. The explosion was visible 2,600 km away, at Kwajalein Atoll; an artificial aurora lasted seven minutes. The unforeseen and most militarily significant effect was the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) generated by the test. This caused power mains surges in Oahu, knocking out street lights, blowing fuses and circuit breakers, and triggering burglar alarms (and this in the days before microelectronics). The explosion supercharged the Van Allen radiation belts, resulting in several satellites malfunctioning.

Reservations on a synchronous-orbit mission for AAP. - .
Nation: USA. Related Persons: Faget; Low, George. Spacecraft: Apollo X. George M. Low expressed his reservations about the validity of planning a synchronous-orbit mission for AAP. In a note to Maxime A. Faget, Low commented on the recent interest in such a mission and voiced his own doubt concerning either the need for or the desirability of such a flight. Low stated that such things as synoptic views of terrain or weather phenomena could be done just as well from low Earth orbit using mosaic techniques. Moreover, low orbits afforded simpler operations, much greater payload capabilities, and minimal radiation hazards. Low asked Faget to have his organization prepare an analysis of low Earth-orbit versus synchronous- orbit operations in preparation for upcoming AAP planning discussions in Washington at the end of the month.

1966 July 9 - .

Struggle for space leadership - .
Nation: USSR. Related Persons: Vershinin; Rudenko; Malinovskiy; Smirnov; Ustinov. Program: Soyuz; Voskhod. Flight: Voskhod 3; Voskhod 4; Voskhod 5; Voskhod 6; Soyuz 1; Soyuz 2A; Soyuz s/n 3/4. Spacecraft: Voskhod. In the previous days Kamanin has been preparing Vershinin and Rudenko for the struggle to ensure the Ministry of Defence's interests in space are preserved and defended. Malinovskiy, Smirnov, and Ustinov must be convinced of the righteousness of the VVS position on space crew preparation and training. At the beginning of 1966, Kamanin thought 1966 would be the year Russia would leap ahead again in the space race. At that time four manned Voskhod and four manned Soyuz flights were expected. Now the year is half over, and it is clear that the only remaining Voskhod flight will not go ahead, and it will be luck if even two Soyuz missions are flown. Instead of a year of triumph, 1966 will see the USA pulling far ahead in the space race. This is the fault of the incredibly poor management of the Soviet space program by Ustinov, Smirnov, Keldysh, and Malinovskiy -- but even more fundamentally due to the inept management of OKB-1 and TsUKOS. The Voskhod program was delayed, then destroyed by OKB-1's insistence on inclusion of their poorly thought-out and developed experiment in artificial gravity. VVS was always opposed to this experiment, yet OKB-1 dragged the program out for years trying to perfect it. Flights of the Soyuz spacecraft could already have occurred in 1962-1963, had Korolev not ignored VVS recommendations and insisted on perfecting a fully automatic rendezvous and docking system. Development of this system delayed the Soyuz project a minimum of three years.

Mir News 219: Soyuz-TM18 safely landed in Kazakhstan. - .
Nation: Russia. Program: Mir. Flight: Mir EO-16; Mir EO-15; Mir LD-4. The relieved cosmonauts Afanasyev and Usachov landed with the Descent Module of the Soyuz-TM18 at 100 KM NE of Arkalyk on 9.07.- 94 at 1033 UTC. Radio traffic of Soyuz-TM18 during the descent -also the ANAN aiming beacon- could be monitored via Altair until 1020 UTC. Immediately after the landing the cosmonauts boarded an aircraft for a non-stop flight to Star City near Moscow.

Mir: 2 days ago the command of the Mir-complex was handed over by Afanasyev to Malenchenko. From this moment on the call sign of Polyakov changed from Derbent-3 to Agat-3.

Soyuz-TM19: This ship is still docked to the aft (Kvant-1) docking port of the Mir-complex. Contrary to the normal practice this ship will remain there, so no redocking from the aft to the forward docking port has been planned. One of the reasons may be the future operations with modules like Module- T (Kristall), Spektr and Priroda.

Progress-M24: Thus far the launch of this freighter is still on schedule for 13.07.94.

Tracking ships: On 8.07.94 the tracking ship Kosmonavt Pavel Belyayev moored in the port of Antwerp. A few hours later I visited the ship for a long interview with the Chief of the Expedition of KPB. I was able to follow the movements of the ship and to determine her destination by monitoring radio traffic between the ship and the Mir-station. The chief answered a lot of questions regarding the fate and future of the famous fleet of tracking ships. The KPB is now on her way to Sankt Peterburg. A ship to take over her task in the Atlantic did not show up but remained in Sankt Peterburg due to budget problems.